Shut your cake hole. You don't know anything about my family. I love my Father, my brothers. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again.

History

The youngest of the four archangels, Gabriel fought alongside God, Michael, Raphael, and Lucifer to imprison the Darkness rather than killing her and causing a disruption in the Cosmic Balance. Gabriel lived in Heaven until Michael and Lucifer's constant fighting over the creation of humanity caused him to skip out of Heaven and seek refuge on Earth.

Thousands of years ago Gabriel, while walking the fjords, came across the Norse trickster god, Loki, who was bound in a cave where a snake was dripping venom into Loki's eyes. Gabriel would go on to free Loki. Once Michael and Lucifer began their fighting over the creation of humanity, Gabriel sought to escape the constant quarreling, and remembering that Loki owed Gabriel for saving Loki's life, Loki gave Gabriel his identity and taught Gabriel to be the Trickster on the one condition that Gabriel agreed to forever abandon the "volatile affairs" of the Archangels. Gabriel agreed.

With the "real" Loki going into hiding to avoid his own family's drama, Gabriel embraced the lifestyle of a demi-god and meting out "just desserts to the high and mighty." During his time on Earth as the Trickster, Gabriel became acquainted with many other pagan gods, even forming a romantic relationship with the Hindu goddess Kali.

Personality

As the Trickster, Gabriel behaved in a mischievous manner and enjoyed toying with the unwitting human objects of his game-playing. He embraced a hedonistic lifestyle, including the "sweet tooth" for which the demigod was notorious. Even after revealing himself to be an archangel, Gabriel still used misdirection to achieve his goals and to protect himself. He was often sarcastic, making Gabriel's manner the most similar to a human of any of the angels, perhaps because of his long sojourn on earth, and his appreciation of what he acknowledged humans could achieve.

Nothing is known of his vessel, although the pagan gods' familiarity with the vessel infers Gabriel had possessed it for thousands of years. It was revealed his vessel is modeled after Loki's likeness. Gabriel even stated, at some point in his history as Loki, he had a face transplant 5.08 Changing Channels.

Powers and abilities

Healing - Instantaneous healing of all injuries, including his own.[2]

Illusions - Gabriel is capable of creating elaborate illusions, including copies of himself.[3][1] This ability also extends to transforming objects into something else, and transform the appearance of his vessel.[4][5][1]

Episodes

"Come on! Those people got what was coming to them. Hoisted on their own petards. But you and Sam – I like you. I do. So treat yourself... Long as you want. Just long enough for me to move on to the next town."

Sam and Dean investigate a series of strange deaths based on urban legends (i.e. a campus ghost story, alien abduction, alligator in a sewer), but have no success figuring out who is responsible. They unknowingly encounter Gabriel in disguise as the college's night janitor during the course of the investigation. It isn't until Bobby suggests that they are dealing with a Trickster, based on the number of tricks that have been played on the brothers, that they track him down. However, the "Trickster" is waiting for them in the auditorium, and he offers them a peaceful resolution so long as they let him leave to terrorize another town. Naturally, the Winchesters refuse and attack him. With the help of Bobby, they assemble wooden stakes soaked in blood to battle him. However, the Trickster easily rebuffs them by conjuring beings (scantily clad women and a chainsaw wielding psychopath) to fight for him, while he sits back, eats chocolates, and enjoys the show that is put on before him. Nonetheless, Dean manages to stab him with a bloodied stake, causing his minions to disappear. Although the hunters believe they bested him, the Trickster survives the ordeal, having created a copy of himself to survive the ordeal.

"This obsession to save Dean? The way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Dean's your weakness. And the bad guys know it, too. It's gonna be the death of you, Sam. Sometimes you just gotta let people go."

Sam and Dean get caught in an infinite time loop where Dean dies each day in increasingly strange ways and only Sam remembers when the day restarts. Sam continually fails to save Dean despite his memory of the previous days. It is only after a hundred or so repetitions of the day that Sam realizes that it is the Trickster at work and manages to locate the culprit. He threatens their tormentor with a blood-covered stake, causing the Trickster to reveal himself and agree to break the loop. However, immediately after the loop is broken, Dean once again dies, and remains dead.

Throughout the next several months, Sam becomes a far colder and more calculated person as he attempts to track down the Trickster, killing whatever threat he can along the way. Eventually, it is the Trickster who calls the younger Winchester to him, where he tries to drive in a point: that the two brothers continually sacrificing themselves for one another would bring no good, and that their enemies will use this to manipulate them. Nonetheless, Sam pleads with him to turn back time to that Wednesday so that he can save Dean. Reluctantly, the Trickster agrees, lamenting that the whole situation had become boring months ago for him anyway.

"You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other."

The Trickster traps Sam and Dean in a series of TV shows in an attempt to drive home the lesson that they must play their roles as Michael and Lucifer's vessels. When Castiel tries to rescue them, the Trickster easily imprisons him. Sam and Dean finally work out that he is an angel and trap him in a ring of holy fire. He confirms that he is indeed the archangel known as Gabriel. A long time ago, he left Heaven to live on Earth, as he could no longer bear the sight of his brothers fighting each other. He then tells the Winchesters that they are destined to be the vessels of his brothers, as they mirror the relationship between Michael and Lucifer. He says he's sorry they couldn't have a happy TV show-like ending, but it's a destiny they must face. The brothers refuse to accept this, and begin to leave. Gabriel calls after them and asks if they really plan to leave him there forever. Dean replies that they wouldn't, since they don't "mess with people" like he does. Dean then extinguishes the fire by turning on the fire sprinklers, and leaves Gabriel with a final thought: in the end, this wasn't about his brothers' fight or about the Winchesters' destiny, but how the archangel was too much of a coward to stand up to his family.

"Damn right they're flawed. But a lot of them try. To do better, to forgive. And you should see the Spearmint Rhino! I've been riding the pine a long time. But I'm in the game now, and I'm not on your side, or Michael's. I'm on theirs."

Gabriel turns up at the meeting of the gods who are trying to work out a way to stop the Apocalypse. They know him as Loki, the Trickster, and don't realize he is an archangel. Gabriel explains to Sam and Dean that he is there to save them, and he once had a relationship with Kali, and doesn't want her, or the other gods, killed. Gabriel tells Sam and Dean that Kali has bound Sam and Dean to her with a blood spell. He goes to her room, pretending to romance her in an attempt to retrieve the boys' blood, but she is not fooled by his ruse and draws his blood, binding Gabriel to her also.

In front of the other gods, Kali reveals that Gabriel is an archangel, and she uses what she thinks is his archangel blade to stab him. He appears to die, but instead sneaks out of the hotel. While hiding in the Impala, he tells Dean to get their blood from Kali so they can escape. Dean suspects that he cares for the other gods, but Gabriel is unable or unwilling to use his blade to kill Lucifer, prompting Dean to return to the hotel and reveal to Kali that Gabriel is still alive.

Gabriel's secret message to the Winchesters.

Lucifer arrives at the hotel some time later and kills most of the gods. He is about to kill Kali when Gabriel intervenes. He tells Lucifer that he has no legitimate grievance, and he is only jealous that humanity replaced him in God's affections. Gabriel says he is not on Lucifer's side, or Michael's, but that he has come to agree with God, that humanity is better than them, noting that they are a flawed race that at least tries to do better when they fail. Gabriel then tries to kill Lucifer with his archangel blade, sneaking up on him from behind while a Gabriel copy is speaking. However, Lucifer recognizes the trick, claiming he taught his "little brother" everything, and turns the blade on the "real" Gabriel, killing him. Lucifer is shown to grieve for his brother's death, staring down at his body where his wings and halo have burned onto the floor and the tables.

It is revealed in 13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive that Lucifer didn't kill the real Gabriel, that it was another replica he stabbed and the real Gabriel escaped.

After their escape, Sam and Dean play a Casa Erotica DVD that Gabriel gave Dean. In it, Gabriel tells them they may be able to re-imprison Lucifer, and that the keys to his cage are the four rings of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

"After it was raining winged men, hallelujah? Well, you know... total nigh-biblical chaos, Crowley and Aba-douche duking it out. Good times. And then there's our peeps, scattered like confetti."

Gabriel, who was believed to be dead, makes his presence known to Castiel through Casa Erotica 14, eventually manifesting in his motel room, asking him for help against Metatron. When Cas asked how he was alive, Gabriel said, "Please, you can't take the trick out of the Trickster." He said he was in and cast out of "the safest place in the universe -- Heaven." He tells Cas that Metatron is using the Horn of Gabriel to lure the angels by making them believe that it was Heaven when it was actually a trap by Metatron and Gadreel.

When they decide to stop at a Gas-N-Sip, a group of Metatron loyalists quickly descend upon them. Before they can enter the gas station Gabriel tells Castiel that he still has some of his archangel mojo left, and will hold them off so Cas can make his escape. However Castiel realizes that the whole thing is an illusion by the fact that he had ripped his coat earlier, but in the Gas-N-Sip there was no hole. Gabriel pleads with Cas to hear Metatron out, that he is really trying to help him. However he isn't able to specify how, as he only skimmed through his parts of script. Before Gabriel leaves, Cas asks him if he is really dead, but receives only a trademark smirk and eyebrow wriggle in response from Gabriel before he snaps his fingers and teleports Cas to Metatron's office. Later, Metatron explains that no one tells stories better than Gabriel, hence his idea of using an illusion of Gabriel in an attempt to manipulate Castiel to lead the rebellious angels.

When the Winchesters, Chuck, and Lucifer try to formulate a plan of attack against Amara, the suggestion of bringing in the other archangels is shot down by God, who claims that Michael is in no condition to fight and that it is out of His power to bring back Gabriel and Raphael, as archangels are made of pure primordial creation, and to resurrect them would take time that they do not have.

After Asmodeus reveals that he has found the archangel blade, Mr. Ketch reminds him that the lore says that the weapon can only be wielded by an archangel. Asmodeus leads Ketch to a cell where a figure is sitting, battered and with his mouth sewn shut. Asmodeus introduces Mr. Ketch to the Archangel Gabriel, somehow still alive after being stabbed by Lucifer.

Summoned by Asmodeus but then forced to wait interminably for audience, Ketch barges into the throne room to find Asmodeus extractinggrace from a cowering Gabriel and injecting himself with it. Gabriel is then locked away in his cage in the throne room where he witnesses Ketch being violently assaulted by Asmodeus. When Ketch decides to make his escape, he breaks Gabriel free, taking the archangel blade and the vials of Gabriel's grace. Gabriel struggles as Ketch tries to lead him out of the asylum; when a demon guard arrives, Gabriel cowers away as Ketch kills it with the archangel blade before dragging Gabriel away to their escape.

Ketch brings Gabriel to the Men of Letters Bunker, where he offers Gabriel, the vials of archangel grace, and the blade in exchange for sanctuary from Asmodeus. Later, Sam begins the process of removing the stitches which have kept Gabriel's mouth sealed and asks what happened to him, but he doesn't respond. Gabriel watches on as Dean and Ketch go into Apocalypse World.

"Uh...yeah. Not so much. I mean, thank you for the rescue and for the redemption arc. But, uh, I'm not really a team guy, so...I'm gonna bounce, okay? Um, but, you know, it's been, um... What's the opposite of fun? That."

After being brought to the Bunker, Gabriel is unresponsive to Sam and Castiel's inquiries and refuses to be given his grace. He eventually tells his story, writing it in Enochian on the walls of his room. Castiel translates the writings -- the story begins at Gabriel's supposed death at the hands of Lucifer in the Elysian Fields Hotel. The Gabriel which Lucifer stabbed was in fact the fake, while the real Gabriel watched from a distance. Seeing his "death" as an opportunity be free of any obligations to God, Heaven, or mankind, Gabriel moved to Monte Carlo and "shacked up" with porn stars. At some point in time, Gabriel was captured and delivered to Asmodeus, who for years subjected him to endless torture as his grace was taken to make Asmodeus stronger.

Sam eventually has enough of his silence and makes an impassioned plea to Gabriel. He tells him that "hookers and Monte Carlo" sound great, but that his family needs him, the world needs him, they need him, and Sam needs him. As Sam is about to leave the room, Gabriel speaks his first words since his rescue, telling him, "Porn stars. They were porn stars, Sam." Gabriel is then given a vial of his grace, but is unsure if its effects have done anything. When the power surges inside Gabriel, Asmodeus, connected to Gabriel's grace by virtue of his repeated consumption of it, is able to sense it. He places a call to Sam, demanding he give up Gabriel or else he will attack the Bunker. Sam refuses to give Gabriel up, strengthening the Bunker's warding in preparation for Asmodeus' incursion. The warding fails, and Asmodeus and his demons enter the Bunker and retrieve Gabriel. As Gabriel is being dragged away, he witnesses Asmodeus attempting to slowly kill Sam and Castiel, and he manages to overpower the demons holding him. This grabs the attention of Asmodeus, who tells Gabriel he is too weak to do anything to him. Gabriel's eyes begin to glow with angelic light, his wounds become instantly healed, and he unleashes his wings to a shocked Asmodeus. He throws a blast of energy at Gabriel, which the archangel easily deflects. Telling Asmodeus how much he has always hated his suit, Gabriel incinerates him with a gesture.

With Asmodeus dead, Gabriel gets caught up to everything that has happened regarding Jack, Apocalypse World, and Michael. Gabriel, however, politely declines to join the fight, telling Sam the last time the world was going to end he put his money on Sam and Dean and he thinks they can pull it off again, before teleporting away.

"Every day, Asmodeus tortured me! Every.. day! He fed off my grace for years! He used me, he debased me until I was...! What I went through... you don't forgive. Everyone who had a hand in it will die. Get me?"

As Fenrir Odensbane stumbles down an alley, drinking, Gabriel makes his presence known playing a kazoo to get Fenrir's attention. Stepping out from behind a dumpster, Gabriel declares his intent to face Fenrir "honorably" with not gimmicks or tricks. With a special wooden sword in hand, Gabriel and Fenrir begin their fight. Fenrir is able to wound Gabriel's arm, causing him to bleed, which is unusual for an archangel. Gabriel sees an opening and is able to fatally stab Fenrir in the heart, killing him, but he gets maimed by Fenrir's claws in the process.

Gabriel makes his way to the motel the Winchesters are staying at hoping that they have more of his archangel grace. After Sam tends to his slash marks, Dean tells Gabriel that they used his grace to open up a rift. After resting up, Gabriel tries to leave, but Fenrir's brothers, Sleipnir and Narfi, use Gabriel's blood to track him to the motel. A fight ensues and ends with Gabriel killing Narfi with another wooden sword and Sleipnir escaping certain death. Dean handcuffs Gabriel while he and Sam dump Narfi's corpse into a car crusher. When they return, Gabriel reluctantly tells them more of his story after faking his death at the Elysian Fields Hotel.

Gabriel retreated to Monte Carlo and partied with Fenrir, Sleipnir, and Narfi and a bunch of porn stars in their estate. One night, the trio restrained him and sold him to Asmodeus. For the past seven years, Asmodeus has been torturing him endlessly while Gabriel plots to one day exact revenge on them all. He also reveals that he intends to kill the god responsible for everything that happened; Loki. Gabriel explains that he saved Loki, who was bound in a cave somewhere in the Fjords with snake dripping venom in his eye. As repayment, Loki placed him into witness protection, thereby giving him his entire identity and teaching him to become the Trickster. In the meantime, Loki has been off the grid, but Gabriel knew he was hiding in Monte Carlo and thought that Loki would help him again after he faked his death. Dean believes that his time with Asmodeus never would have happened if Gabriel helped them fight Lucfier, but he reminds the Winchesters about how he told them about the Horsemen's Rings to slam Lucifer back in the Cage. Sam offers his and Dean's help to Gabriel if he agrees to help them. Gabriel accepts and explains that Loki is hiding in the penthouse of the Ophidian Hotel. His plan is to kill Loki's sons in order before targeting Loki.

At the hotel, he tells the Winchesters that Sleipnir and Loki are his to kill while they take out the bodyguards. They take the elevator to the third floor and get in a shoot out with Sleipnir and his bodyguards. During the confusion, Dean takes the sword intended for Loki. After the gunfight ends, both the bodyguards are dead and Gabriel finishes off Sleipnir with his sword. Sam and Gabriel rush to the penthouse to catch up with Dean who is greeted by Loki. Loki explains that he sold Gabriel to Asmodeus for his role in the death of Odin. Despite knowing that Lucifer killed Odin, he wanted Gabriel punished as he gave the archangel his identity on the condition that he abandoned his family's volatile affairs forever, but he broke that promise and it cost his father his life. Dean tries to stab Loki, but he turns out to be an illusion to distract and attack Dean while the real Loki confronts Gabriel in the hallway. After Sam dispels the illusion, they rush to Gabriel to deliver the sword. Loki berates him for asking him for help again after inadvertently causing his father's death and questions whether or not he or his sons deserved to die for his cowardice. When the Winchesters arrive, Gabriel retrieves the sword and pins Loki to the wall. Loki tells Gabriel that he lives only for pleasure and stands for and will die for nothing, while Gabriel responds with "You first." and stabs Loki, killing him and completing his revenge.

Outside the hotel, he thanks the Winchesters for their reluctant assistance in his affairs and goes with them to the Bunker. He tells them that he's done with tricks and that he's a whole new guy now that he got his revenge. At the Bunker, Castiel helps Gabriel settle in. Sam tells Dean that they will have to wait for his grace to recharge before preparing to travel to Apocalypse World.

"And you think I could fix it? Gosh. I skipped out on Heaven, Castiel. They wouldn't want me back. As far as they're concerned, I'm a screwup. Hell, as far as 'I'm' concerned, I'm a screwup."

After secreting himself in Dean's bedroom while he extracts some of his own grace, Gabriel returns to the Bunker library where he produces a vial containing a minute amount of grace. Rowena is unconvinced that the "serving" is enough, but Gabriel assures her it will work. Rowena performs the ritual, and rift does indeed open, but seconds later it falters and disappears. As Sam, Dean, and Castiel discuss options, Gabriel tries to explain to Rowena what happened, but she doesn't want to hear his excuses. This causes Gabriel to snap and accuse her of botching the spell, which Rowena refutes by saying it wasn't the spell, but the ingredients. Soon after their spat, they begin eyeing each other, and Rowena suggests a way to fill the time they have while the others a deliberating. Sam, Dean, and Castiel enter the library sometime later to find Rowena and Gabriel fooling around behind a bookshelf to everyone's shock and embarrassment. Dean reveals that Sam has a plan to get the grace needed from Lucifer.

At a bar, a despondent Lucifer is drowning his sorrows after losing everything and not being able to find his son. When the bartender says Jack's name to Lucifer, Gabriel realizes he slipped up and transforms into himself. A shocked Lucifer attempts to flee, but he is brought right back into the bar. As he realizes that something is wrong, Gabriel and Rowena reveal they spiked his drinks with a magical roofie. Lucifer sits down at the bar, with no fight left in him. He tells Gabriel to take his grace and kill him, but Gabriel has other plans and knocks him unconscious with the butt of his archangel blade.

After Lucifer comes to in the Bunker, he is trussed up and his grace is slowly siphoned off into the spell bowl to keep the rift open as Gabriel, the Winchesters, and Castiel cross over into Apocalypse World. Entering the alternate universe, they find themselves in a wooded area in Northern Kentucky and they proceed to make their way towards Dayton, Ohio. As they walk, Castiel and Gabriel begin talking and Castiel reveals that Heaven is in need of leadership. Gabriel is uncertain that Heaven would want a screw up like him, but Cas assures him that he may be just what Heaven needs to survive. When screams are heard in the distance, Sam and Dean rush in as Gabriel tries to dissuade them, telling them it isn't their problem.

The group finds a man and a woman, Floyd and Maggie, being attacked by a vampire. After saving them, the two tell of the vampire nest that attacked their group in a tunnel on the way to Dayton, and they join them on their journey. As they reach the tunnel, Sam dispatches a few vampires, but when they reach their intended exit they find it blocked. As Gabriel and Castiel begin clearing the way, the group is attacked by vampires, who kill Floyd and Sam and drag them away. With the pathway clear, the group exits the other side. Upon reaching the Dayton outpost, they are forced to stop due to the warding preventing Castiel from entering. Gabriel is able to break the warding, which alerts the guards who quickly arrive on the scene. Before things escalate, Mary and Jack arrive and reunite with Dean and Castiel. As Jack learns of Sam's death, he questions why Gabriel didn't save him, only for Gabriel to tell him he is too weak. He among the others watch as a revived Sam makes his way to Bobby's resistance camp alongside Lucifer.

"Don't you get it?! Humans were innocent and beautiful! But you... you couldn't stand that the old man loved them more than He loved you! So you tempted them and you corrupted them just to prove how flawed they were!... Dad saw that your evil was like the first few cells of cancer... that it would spread like the disease unless He cut it out. That is why He locked you up, to stop the cancer. But it was too late then. And guess what? It's too late for you now."

Gabriel dead... For real.

When Lucifer tries to talk to Jack, Dean demands them not to talk to each other. Despite Lucifer offering to help, Dean demands Gabriel to kill him with the archangel blade, but he is not powerful enough. Eventually, the fighting causes Jack to teleport away for a time.

While on their way to the Singer Salvage Yard, Gabriel heads out ahead to scout. He runs back to the group and warns them that an incursion of angels in tailing him. Before they attempt to smite the group, Lucifer casually disintegrates the angels and melts the binding cuffs. At the salvage yard, Gabriel overhears Lucifer giving his perspective on how he was treated by God, to Jack, scoffing and argues that Lucifer was not a victim in his dealings with their father.

Later, Gabriel tells Lucifer that Jack will see what he is, a bad influence incapable of empathy or love who lives to be worshiped and/or feared. Lucifer tries to convince him that he changed, but Gabriel is unconvinced as he remembers his time with his brothers. He believes that Jack is greatly influenced by the Winchesters and his mother's bloodline and believes that Jack would never want to be anything like his father let alone adopt his beliefs. Lucifer tries to defend himself, but Gabriel gets angry and declares that he's nothing more than a cancer that corrupted the previously innocent and beautiful humans. Lucifer couldn't stand that God loved them more than he loved him, so he tempted and corrupted them to prove their flaws. The reason that Lucifer was locked up was to purge the disease before it could spread, but it was too late by the time he was imprisoned. Gabriel tells his brother that it was to late for redemption back then as it is too late for him now. As Gabriel looks away, Lucifer is visibly affected by his brother's words and a single tear falls.

Later, the Winchesters, Castiel and Apocalypse World hunters prepare to leave the world through the portal by repairing an old bus. Gabriel questions why Lucifer is driving the bus, but Dean explains that he's letting him do so so they can keep an eye on him. Gabriel rides with Jack and the Winchesters on the Jeep as they make their way to the rift's location in Northeast Kentucky. The group arrives to find the rift starting to close, but to their shock, it begins to glow open again as Rowena doubles her efforts in the Bunker. Ketch, Mary, Jack, and Charlie lead the refugees through the rift into the Bunker until Sam, Dean, Lucifer, Gabriel and three others are left behind. Michael dive-bombs into the area, killing the three others in the resulting explosion. As Michael makes his presence known, Lucifer stands to fight him, but a short exchange leads to Lucifer's defeat. Michael notices Gabriel, who tells Sam and Dean to go, saying that he will not run anymore. Gabriel and Michael battle using their archangel blades. Michael is able to overpower Gabriel, and stabs him with his blade. As light explodes from Gabriel, his body goes limp in Michael's arms, and is placed on the ground as Sam and Dean cross over. Gabriel's dead body lies, wings scorched into the ground of Apocalypse World as Lucifer and Michael strike a deal to crossover together, as look of remorse falls over Lucifer's face.

Later while everyone is celebrating in the Bunker, Dean explains how Gabriel died to Castiel, stating that they owe him everything for getting him and Sam out of the Apocalypse World.

A shaman named Sergei revealed to Castiel that in exchange for a vial of his grace, he gave Gabriel a powerful cloaking spell which allowed him to hide out in Monte Carlo with porn stars. At the bunker, they performed a ritual which was intended to save Jack, but after consuming Gabriel's grace, his condition worsens.

Gabriel in Lore

The Archangel Gabriel by Tiziano

Lore portrays Gabriel in a variety of classes and ranks. In some religious books, he is described as an angel while others cast him as an archangel. In either case he serves as a messenger of God, particularly delivering prophecies and visions to prophets. His name (גַּבְרִיאֵל, Gavri'el) means the "Strength of God".

He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretold the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus. Christians of the Catholic traditions refer to him as Saint Gabriel the Archangel.

Islam believes that Gabriel ( also called Jibrīl or Jibrail) was the medium through whom God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, and that he sent a message to most prophets, if not all, revealing their obligations. He is called the chief of the four favored angels and the spirit of truth.

He is called the created Holy Spirit (Islam) that spoke to Muhammad, which is not to be confused with the Holy Spirit of God in Christianity who is revered as God Himself.

In Rabbinic traditions Gabriel is one of the four sarei ha-panim, high angels that stand at the Throne of Glory, with Gabriel standing at the left hand of God. He is the angel of revelation, a role he fills in Christian and Islamic traditions also, as well as the Prince of Fire (I Enoch; Dev. R. 5).
The color red is linked to Gabriel, signifying he is a manifestation of God’s Judgment (Sitre Torah, Zohar 1:99a), he is also listed among the six angels of death; his role is to function as the messenger of death for kings.

Gabriel is also mentioned in Bahá'í Faith texts, specifically in Bahá'u'lláh's mystical work Seven Valleys.

In Enoch 10:13 Gabriel was the one who instigated wars among the Giants (the children of the Watchers), as God commended him to "Let them perish under mutual slaughter; for length of days shall not be theirs." While Enoch 40:9 states that Gabriel presides over "all that is powerful."

According to the Biblical verses which specifically refer to him, Gabriel is likened to a mortal male, but is sometimes portrayed as androgynous or female, as in some New Age beliefs or contemporary art imagery.